Galaxy Angel (game)/Gameplay Walkthrough
This is an exploration of the gameplay elements of Galaxy Angel. ADV (Visual Novel section) During the course of the story, the player will frequently be given choices that affect two statistics, Trust and Affection, for each heroine. The approximate values of these statistics can be viewed during the free movement sections by visiting the Whale Room. The background color of the girl's portrait, ranging from blue (low) to red (high), shows her trust level, while the bar below her portrait shows her affection level. Trust affects the pilot bonuses of each heroine in combat. In general, higher trust means better bonuses, though there are other factors that affect those bonuses as well. Trust seems to reset to "green" level between chapters, with many exceptions (research needed). Affection determines which heroines the player can choose as Tact's romantic interest in Chapter 7. Affection does not reset, but builds over the course of the game. SLG (Space Combat Simulation section) In the space combat portions of the game, the player must command the Elsior and the Moon Angel Troupe in a 3D real time tactics simulation. Allies may also be present. The player may pause the battle at any time by pressing the "p" key. Controls The player cannot directly control the ships, but gives commands through a right-click menu. The Elsior and the Emblem Frames (blue) can be selected from their icons on the left side of the screen or with the shortcut keys "0" and "1" through "5". Allied ships (green) have no icons or shortcut keys, so they must be found using the camera. Friendly ships (yellow) cannot be given orders. *'Standby (h):' The ship will stop moving and attacking. The ship returns to this setting after completing a movement/supply/repair order, or when its attack target is destroyed. If the auto-attack option is selected, the ship will automatically select the closest enemy to attack. *'Attack (a):' The ship will move towards and attack the enemy selected by the player. *'Final Attack (f):' Emblem Frames only. Requires full SP. The fighter will attack the selected enemy with its special attack, which usually destroys the target. Exception: Harvester's final is not an attack; instead, it restores the HP of all Emblem Frames to full (regardless of distance). *'Guard (g):' The ship will stay near the selected ally, and shoot at any enemies that attack it. *'Move (m):' The ship will move to the selected position. Note that the player can only select from the 2D plane midway between the top and bottom boundaries of the battlefield. *'Supply (s):' Emblem Frames only. The fighter will return to the Elsior, where its HP and Energy will be replenished, but its SP will drop to 0. *'Repair ®:' Harvester only. Harvester will approach the selected Emblem Frame and restore its HP to full, but its SP will drop to 0. The Elsior and allied ships cannot be selected. *'Auto-Attack:' When this is toggled on, any time the ship is on standby it will automatically switch to the attack order, targetting the closest enemy. It is by default toggled on for the Emblem Frames and allied ships, and off for the Elsior. *'Auto-Counterattack:' Not sure what this toggle does. It is by default toggled on for allied ships and off for the Elsior and the Emblem Frames. *'Ship Information (i):' Opens the ship information display, which shows the HP, Energy, ship statistics, and pilot information for the selected ship. Note that enemy ships have no energy limit, and no information is shown for enemy ships which are being encountered for the first time. *'Objectives (o):' Displays the mission objectives. Camera The panel at the bottom center of the screen is for controlling the camera. Normally, the camera is focused on one ship, which can be changed using the arrows on the panel. To rotate the camera, the player can simply click and drag the mouse anywhere in the main window. Two useful shortcuts: You can also focus the camera on a ship by double-pressing its shortcut key (0 for Elsior, 1-5 for the Emblem Frames). Pressing F4 activates auto-camera, which automatically points the camera in the direction of the target of whatever ship the camera is focussed on (even if that ship is an enemy ship, whose target is normally hidden). Your Ships Elsior The Elsior is tough, but it can't evade attacks like the Emblem Frames can, and it can't be repaired. Loss of the Elsior is always a mission failure condition. Keep it away from large groups of enemies and from Sherry's battlecruiser. GA001 Lucky Star The Lucky Star boasts good speed, attack, and defense. It is the most balanced fighter, and can be useful in any capacity. Weapons include a laser (range 4000), twin guns (range 2000), and 8 omnidirectional missile launchers (range unconfirmed). Note that the laser cannot be fired at a range of less than 1500. The Lucky Star also carries a small energy shield to help deflect attacks. Against fighters (i.e. the Hell Hounds), the omnidirectional missiles are replaced by a swarm of anti-fighter missiles. The Lucky Star's Final Attack is the Hyper Cannon, which hits all enemies in a straight line in front of the Lucky Star, regardless of range. Unfortunately, it must still come within range of the target in order to begin the attack, but with careful positioning, the player can take out several ships with one Hyper Cannon. GA002 Kung-Fu Fighter The Kung-Fu Fighter specializes in speed at the expense of durability. This allows it to reach far-off enemies quickly, but be careful not to let it be caught far from help with low HP. Fortunately, it's fast enough to avoid most missiles. Weapons include a heavy missile launcher (range 4000) and twin guns (range 3500). Note that the missile launcher cannot be fired if the Kung-Fu Fighter is too close to the target. Against fighters (i.e. the Hell Hounds), the heavy missile is replaced by a swarm of anti-fighter missiles. The Kung-Fu Fighter's Final Attack is the Anchor Claw, which fires both of its claw-like arms at a single target. GA003 Trick Master The Trick Master specializes in long-range attacks, at the expense of speed and durability. It's attack power is nothing to boast about, either, but this is slightly offset by the fact that its main weapon (the flyers) is omnidirectional. Weapons include 3 heavy missile launchers (range unconfirmed) and 3 omnidirectional flyer-based lasers (range unconfirmed). The Trick Master's Final Attack is the Flyer Dance, which saturates a spherical area around the target with lasers. If the player is able to gather several enemy ships in one place, this Final can come in quite handy. GA004 Happy Trigger The Happy Trigger, is the slowest, most powerful, and most heavily armored of the Emblem Frames. There may be times when it is better to retarget the enemy to reduce time between attack runs. Weapons include (unconfirmed). The Happy Trigger's Final Attack is the Strike Burst, which fires a large number of missiles at a single target. Can take out just about anything, even without Trust bonuses. GA005 Harvester The Harvester has average speed and good defense, but is somewhat lacking in the attack department. However, it's main use is not combat, but the repair of other Emblem Frames. If the Kung-Fu Fighter is far from the Elsior, the Harvester better be close behind. Weapons include (unconfirmed). The Harvester's Final Attack is the Repair Wave, which is not an attack, but rather restores the HP of all Emblem Frames to full. Allied Ships Not much use. In addition to being relatively slow and weak (compared to the Emblem Frames), points and kills scored by allied ships are not accumulated, but are lost after the mission. If you are trying to rack up points and kills, you may want to toggle their auto-attack off and send them away from the battle. Otherwise, they can be used as roadblocks. Mission Walkthroughs (under construction) All missions have a time limit of 15:00, which counts down in the upper right hand corner. Chapter 1 Mission A An easy mission, meant to let the player get used to the combat system. Milfie, Ranpha and Forte will win this battle handily even if you don't touch the controls, thanks to good pilot bonuses (even if you chose "run away"). Reinforcements appear at 13:30 (2 ships) and 12:40 (4 ships), but they die just as quickly as the others. Chapter 1 Mission B This is the first of several flagship missions. Simply clearing these missions is easy - just send all Emblem Frames to attack the flagship. Therefore I will assume the player is aiming to completely destroy the enemy fleet. If Tact delayed accepting command from Luft (boosting the trust of Milfie and Mint), then Milfie has partner-level bonuses. Have the other Emblem Frames handle ships approaching the Elsior while Lucky Star cleans house. If Tact accepted command immediately (boosting the trust of Ranpha, Forte and Vanilla), then the team is fairly balanced. Split the Emblem Frames among the three corridors and watch them chew throught the enemy fleet. Chapter 2 Mission A Chapters 2-6 each focus on a specific heroine, allowing that heroine to reach partner-level bonuses for that chapter (assuming the player doesn't make mistakes), while other heroines' bonuses are quite limited. Unfortunately, Milfie, the chapter 2 heroine, isn't available in this mission, so the player must make do with less powerful units. Fortunately, this mission is still relatively easy - cruisers and destroyers pose no real threat. Ranpha may need Harvester's repair abilities if she gets too far ahead, but that's about it. Chapter 2 Mission B Assuming the player didn't mess up with Milfie, the Lucky Star can take on Rezom's southern force solo. The other emblem frames will automatically clean up the few northern ships, so they can be safely ignored. This mission introduces the mothership (also known as carrier). Despite the name, it does not launch any fighters. It is by far the slowest and toughest ship encountered in the early missions. Emblem Frames making their initial attack run on a mothership will not avoid its initial barrage of missiles and will take decent damge, so it is generally not advised to solo them with Ranpha. Chapter 3 Mission A This mission should pose no problem; just take out either of the enemies to clear. Without their Dark Angel upgrades, the Hell Hounds are no match for our heroines. Chapter 3 Mission B This chapter is Ranpha's chance to shine. Take the Elsior into the southwest corner as in the mission briefing, with slow-moving Trick Master and Lucky Trigger for protection, while Kung-Fu Fighter cleans house. Make sure Harvester follows in case Kung-Fu Fighter needs repairs. Lucky Star (and possibly Trick Master) can help with enemies on the other side from Kung-Fu Fighter. The Missile Ships are introduced in this mission. They have a pretty long missile range, but its fairly easy to take them out long before they get close enough to Elsior. Chapter 4 Mission A If you choose to prioritize rescue of the merchant fleet, this mission is pretty easy. Most of the ships will go after the merchants, who head along the north edge of the map towards the far corner. Kung-Fu Fighter and/or Lucky Star can easily reach them in time to win with no damage to the merchant fleet. If you choose to prioritize the Elsior's own safety, then it becomes much harder to protect the merchants so that they take no damage. They head across the center of the map, so at top speed Kung-Fu Fighter can barely reach the lead enemy in time to destroy it before it can fire. I imagine sending both Kung-Fu Fighter and Lucky Star could barely manage it, but this is unconfirmed since after the first two or three tries I went back to the "prioritize rescuing merchant fleet" choice. Note that even if all the merchants get destroyed, you can still "clear" the mission. I don't consider this a real win, but if for some reason you're desperate (or you just don't like merchants)... Chapter 4 Mission B A fairly straightforward mission. If you're just aiming to clear, the Hell Hounds' fighters should be no match for the Emblem Frames, especially if Mint gets a Flyer Dance in. If you want to take out the enemy ships, send Happy Trigger (who has trouble keeping up with the fighters anyways) along with Harvester and optionally Kung-Fu Fighter or Lucky Star (make sure not to send Kung-Fu Fighter against the mothership). Have Trick Master and whoever else is left behind guard Elsior. Should be an easy mission. Chapter 5 Mission A This mission introduces Sherry's Battlecruiser, the most dangerous enemy ship in the game due to its high speed and firepower. If it is not taken out early, it will catch up to and destroy the Elsior in short order. Unfortunately, it is also the flagship of this mission, so destroying it ends the mission early. On top of that all the pilots are set to low level regardless of trust for this mission, so taking out the entire enemy fleet before Sherry destroys the Elsior is practically impossible. If you somehow do manage it, please let me know. Chapter 5 Mission B This mission sports more enemy ships than any other mission (if you don't count the stationary attack sattelites in the final mission), and is the hardest of all the early missions. There are two routes you can take: The central route proposed in the briefing, or around the southeast corner. Central route: Take out Sherry's battlecruiser first; do not let it reach the Elsior. Have your remaining fighters attack anything that comes near the Elsior in order of nearness, making sure to cover both front and rear. Southeastern route: Take out Sherry's battlecruiser first; do not let it reach the Elsior. I recommend multiple fighters for this. Follow up by destroying the surrounding frigates and destroyers; the northern force can then be taken out at the player's leisure. The Elsior will take significant damage on this route, but it is overall the safer one (assuming Sherry's Battlecruiser is taken out immediately). Chapter 6 Mission *(if "teach Eonia's forces a lesson" is chosen) Objective: Destroy the enemy flagship. *(if "protecting the Elsior is most important" is chosen) Objective: Destroy all enemies. This battle should be pretty easy after the last two. Let the Elsior stay back while the Emblem Frames methodically destroy all enemies. Since this is Vanilla's chapter, Harvester's Repair Wave should be useable fairly often. If for some reason you find it difficult, simply pick "teach Eonia's forces a lesson" and mob the mothership for the win. The reinforcements are unconfirmed. It is possible they don't appear if "teach Eonia's forces a lesson" is chosen. Chapter 7 Mission *Objective: Civilian evacuation ships reach the marked area, or destroy all enemies. Interestingly, the cargo ship is displayed green like allied ships, but it cannot be given orders. If you want to protect the passenger ships full of civilians, immediately send Kung-Fu Fighter to take out the right-most pair of missile ships. The central allied ships can take care of the other two missile ships, or they can assist the Emblem Frames against the Hell Hounds and frigates. Either way, have the remaining allied cruiser follow the civilian ships to protect them. One of the Dark Angels will generally break away from the melee to chase the civilian ships, and the cruiser can delay it long enough for Lucky Star (or whoever you prefer) to catch up. By the time the enemy reinforcements appear (destroyers in the west and northeast), you should be able to spare enough Emblem Frames to take care of them.